The history of the Swedish fighter J35 Dragon started
with the knowledge that Sweden must have an aircraft which was able to
fight high flying bombers which were under development in the Soviet. It
had to be able to fly at 13000 level with over sound speed, land on war
fields like roads. Short take of and landing length, about 800 and 600
m. The designer was Erik Bratt at SAAB.
This aircraft was projected already 1949. It was before the Swedish J29
Barrel was delivered, 1951. This aircraft was designated J35 and later with
the nickname Dragon. It's first take of was in October 1955 and
delivering to air wings 1960. The development letter reach F and
production ceased 1974. Some aircrafts were exported to Finland, Denmark and
Austria. In Austria they are still in service 2004. NASA has got
some for testing and it is also at least one aircraft in private ownership.
At Duxford there is one donated by Swedish Air Force. In Denmark outside
the car museum of Aahlholm is one sad copy exhibited. The Dragon was in
service for 46 years and 615 were build.
To test this idea of so called super sonic character a small version was
build, Little Dragon, which also can be seen at museum. I remember that
in the the 50th there was an air jubilee over Stockholm. At this
opportunity the Air Force had sent the Little Dragon. It flew rather
high and made some rotations before it disappeared. There is also a so
called trainee mockup for education of pilots. The design of this
aircraft
was a double delta wing where the inner thick part gave the fighter high
speeds and also place for landing gears weapon and fuel. The outer part
of the wing gave it good low speed qualities.
The following picture is from Roll Out at Västerås Flying museum 2007.
It is one renovated Dragon by Swedish Air Force. It is in mint condition
and is nice to see closely. Something for an enthusiast.
Generally the J35 was a lucky construction and had good development
potential.

Saab J29 was projected 1945. Serial production started
1950 and the last aircrafts were delivered 1956. It first replaced
the A21 propeller version 1953.The design
of the J29 is from the beginning a German project for a arrow wing
fighter, Messerschmitt P1101. The winning forces shared and took what
they wanted from the defeated Germans. The project P1101, a Swedish
engineer from SAAB got (Frid Wännström?) drawings and reported in shady ways, in
Switzerland. These were handed over to the border of SAAB. Lars Brising
at that time chief designer at SAAB put several suggestions with this as
the base. In this way it became a J29 of the Messerschmitt beginning
project. The Swedish J29 Barrel became the national pride in Sweden. In
spite of this hidden origin the J29 became a very potent fighter for
it's time and was in service till 1965. 661 copies were build. The
Swedish pilots were not used to these advanced aircrafts and there were
high efforts on education. With this new kind of flying 230 J29 were
crashed and many of them with the lost of the pilot. These
accidents were believed to be caused by the fact that there were no 2
seat school version. For this time the project was complicated
that in Sweden there was no qualified Swedish test pilot to find.
Saab hired an English pilot, Bob Moore for this job. The first take of
was 1948. The J29 was well known for at least two things. World record
on track in speed and service in Kongo. At one fighter visit in Italy
one J29 was damaged and it was presented to Italy because it was to
expensive to repair in place. The Swedish Air Force leader didn't
realized the future value of old historical fighters. Shoot or fire them
in pieces. I can never understand that it was a better schooling for
pilots to shoot at an old fighter on ground. This was only showing the
way of thinking at that time. If enough copies could have been stored
the air force Museum today 2007 could have money enough to have an air
force museum of a high level. This would be good for Swedish history.
Lucky enough there are several of these aircrafts left for enthusiast with
money to be put in order again. In Sweden there was for a long time no
flying Barrel. When the old mechanics and engineers realized this they
got money from SAAB, firms and donations to put a good copy in order.
This was a job that was completed 2007. Only one country bought J29 and
it was Austria. They bought used aircrafts which got a complete renovation.
The Austrian pilots were trained in Sweden. Up to this day the Swedish
people speaks with a proud voice about J29 Barrel which made the Swedish
air industry well known in the world.

J21 was projected during the turbulent time when WWII
started. In Sweden the authorities realized that there was no air
defence at all. 2 (J19) fighters were under construction and 2 fighter
models were under production, B17 and B18. SAAB was overcrowded with
work. The air defence had ordered 200 fighters from America, but only 60
were delivered before USA was involved in the war. 1941 SAAB had a
suggestion for a fighter J21 from the designer Frid Wännström. After
several deliberations with RLM (Reichluftsministerium) Sweden got
license to build DB605 with 1475 hk. The deliberation group also tried
to buy BF 109, but here it was negative. In this situation combat air
aircrafts were bought from Italy. J11, J20 and Caproni bombers. These
aircrafts were far away as good as the Bf 109 and Spitfire. During this
turbulence the J21 was not produced as fast as necessary. The J21 had
lots of problems with the engine from Germany and Sweden's own licence
production of the engine had problems too. Biggest was that the aircraft
didn't get proper cooling and in the end this restricted the climbing
ability of the aircraft. Nevertheless it was a type that had big
interest in the world and the design was closely followed by the
belligerent countries. Noticeable most from Russia. They reported all
problems involved. This fighter was not delivered to the air wings until
war was over. Even another air aircraft was designed. It was something
between Bf109 and Mustang. This prolonged of course the production of
J21. During one month J21 was stopped in favour for this J23. Today we
can say that if J23 was built it had been a better aircraft than J21. The
problem on J21 with cooling made that it was not possibly to tax the
aircraft on ground. The mechanics had to throw water on the cooling
packets. A redesign with electrical fans had to be done. Also a catapult
chair was designed. This became the solution of the escape problem. The
first type of this kind of chair was done in Germany for the Heinkel
He-280. The first jet air aircraft of the world 1941. Sorry to say SAAB
never protected the design with patent. The English were before. This
made some trouble between SAAB and deHavilland. 298 SAAB 21A were
delivered to the air force up to 1948. All J21 were rebuild to J21A or
scraped. Through a decision that Sweden should not have any propeller
aircraft any more. The development of J21 was stopped and a redesign was
made for jet power. License was bought for Goblin jet engines. Only 60
J21R were delivered because Sweden bought J28 Vampire from England. The
Swedish Air Force now had many different types of air aircrafts. Spitfire,
Mustang, Italian aircrafts, J21A, Vampire J28, Venom J21R and J28. A
mopping-up operation was done. Only 3 J21 were left for our history and
one aircraft through different fates. The engine from one of these was
later sold to Germany for the last flying Bf109. Today (2006) the
interest has come so far that action has taken to rebuild one J21A to a
flying J21R. This project air aircraft is the one in Air Force Museum.
There is also one J21 with propeller. Read more in my links.

The air force realized according there troubles with
J21 to try to buy fighters from England. Although they bought some
Spitfires in order to convert to night flights and some P51 Mustangs.
Through good contact with the English producers Sweden was the first
country to buy Vampire. 70 from the series J28A were delivered from 1946
to 1956 equipped with Goblin engines. Later model J28B with considerable
stronger engine, the Ghost-engine, was bought in 310 examples. Sweden
also got one 2 seat training aircraft. J28 was considered easy to fly and
was commonly popular. This was the second generation of jet air-aircrafts.
It showed that the producers had succeeded to bring up the engine effect
without mounting a after burner. The first generation like Me 262 and Gloster Meteor had to carry 2 engines to get sufficient power. Only the
German model was action ready before war ended. Vampire was projected
early 1940 and was flown first time 1943. The body was made of marine
plywood. Just like the night fighter Mosquito. According to jet
engines England and Germany was just like ahead in the construction of
jet engines. Their biggest problem was heat resistant materials. This
was never needed before. There were 2 different types of jet engines.
One with large diameter. Their centrifugal compressor had only one row.
Because of this it had to be a large diameter. The J29 fighter had this
engine. Both J28 and J29 were recognized by the belly. The other
construction model, that became leading, was the one with considerable
smaller diameter. This was made with several rows for the compressor.
Because of this the engine became longer. Sweden wanted to start an
industry for developing jet engines. Of this reason a license for
building Vampires engines was bought. Goblin. This was developed for a
Swedish variant for J29, J33 and later the Lance. J28 came for the first
time to Sweden in three examples. They were flown to Sweden by Swedish
pilots and landed at F13 in Norrköping. Another 2 were also on the way
but had to stop in Germany for refuelling and bad weather. They landed a
few days later. On of the first 3 with Swedish id number 28001 is on
show at air force museum. After 22 years of work in Sweden 50 were sold
to Austria and Dominican Republic. A last word is that J21 which had the
same configuration as J28 was not able to be used like J28. It was the
first attempt for Swedish industry to construct a jet fighter.

When WWII ended Sweden had no night fighter aircrafts.
There was no defence by night. Although it was on going to rebuild B18
bombers for night fighter supply. But Sweden had no radar knowledge for
these aircrafts. England offered to sell complete equipped Mosquitos. The
air force could not do anything else than put the order. Totally 60 were
delivered after a rebuilding with the new Merlin engines and 4 blades
propeller. These aircrafts were build with cross veneer using the latest
knowledge. They had a low weight and had a possible speed of over 600
km/h. All those aircrafts were stationed in Västerås. Mainly it was an old
construction so the air force didn't count for a long operation time.
They were all scrapped 1953 and no aircraft was left for the museums.
Luckily enough in England they have a far other feeling to save
legendary aircrafts. 1978 the Flying museum in Västerås had a show with
invited legendary war birds like one Mosquito. This aircraft was also
used by the English during war to bring over roller bearings from
Gothenburg to England. During this time Vampire was developed to a night
fighter and renamed to Venom. At that time with the stronger Ghost
engine. Before this aircraft was ready tested Sweden bought 30. Because of
this air force had to do the last adjustments before it was fully
operative. Note the small fins on the picture. The type was used between
1953 to 1959 when SAAB 32 Lance were delivered.

The Swedish air force was in a trouble because the new
aircraft they were waiting for J35 Dragon was several years delayed. To
fill this gap they decided to buy from England Hawker Hunter. In Sweden
it was named J34. The fighter Sweden had at this time was the left over
of J29 Barrel and latest fighter version of Vampire. The progress had a
tremendous speed in the world. J28 and J29 were at this time no match
for foreign fighters. The cold war became more serious as time went on.
Hawker Hunter had been delivered to RAF since 1950, but not to any other
country. It was not equipped with radar and after burner. The contacts
between Sweden and England were very good and the Air force ordered 120
aircrafts. Believe it or not but all these were delivered in time. A very
unusual happening at that time. J34 was not fully developed when they
arrived to Sweden. The canons of the aircraft destroyed the air stream for
engines air intake. That made the engine to loose power. Furthermore the
empty patrons from the gun had the possibility to enter the air intake.
They could destroy the compressor. This was later solved in the way that
a container was build for the patrons. The gunpowder gases made the
compressor wings dirty. I have not been able to know how they solved
this problem unless many question to old mechanics at museums I have
visited. Look further A32 Lance. This was of course a military secret of
large dimension. Sweden made a trial to build in an after burner, but
this project was stopped because the near delivery of A32 Lance. Hawker
Hunter was used till 1960 when it was taken away from war organisation
of Sweden.
Left over aircrafts are to be found at museum in Linköping, Söderhamn and
also at Svedino's museum in Ugglarp. There are several private flying
Hunters in the world. Most of them bought from the Swiss air force. From
these there are at least one in Sweden.

A32 Lance at the exhibition hall. Ref 1Engine of the Lance. Design of the
compressor. Ref 1Engine of Lance. The expension area which
end up in in the turbin and puttingturning force for the compressor. Ref
1A32 Lance. Ref 1Some Swedish engine history. Ref 1Stal Dovern engine. Ref 1Exit for patrons. Picture from Västrås flying
museum. Ref 1Exit for gun powder gases.Picture from
Västerås flying museumn Västerås flygande museum. Ref 1Trial with cover plates for the patrons. See
text. Ref 1A32 at F15 Söderhamn. Places for rockets. Ref
1

In the beginning of the 50th the air forces
distinguish between military aircraft for different missions. The night
mission had its Venom. The fighters had their Hunters. Sweden had also
the B18 and B17 which were bombers. Propeller aircrafts were too old
fashioned. The air leading group had also decided in order to make a
bomber effective, it had to be able to carry heavy bombs, fly fast and
high. Little Sweden could not afford such an investigation. They decided
to put money in attack or as it was named during the war dive bombers.
Besides they had used J21A for this. This type was although not a good
one. See earlier text. Attack air aircraft could defeat goals with high
sure in aim. Saab got the task 1946 to design a suitable aircraft. This
suggestion was ready 1949 and SAAB started to build. In order to build a
modern jetfighter SAAB realized that the designer no longer could sit
and draw and count by hand with the stick. The stick didn't deliver
accuracy enough. It should take too long time. It would be difficult
to make the pieces changeable. The construction office went over to a
coordinate system. Every measure was counted from zero. In order to get
help for this SAAB and Ericsson designed the computer power of that
time. Later SAAB build computers with the name D22. This computer was
used for the dragon. Although the development of computers went so fast
that SAAB could not hang on and later sold the whole concept.
This early design was at the time proved to be Saab A32 Lance and it
first test flight took place in November 1952. It was common in Sweden,
after the war, to baptize a military aircraft with a nickname. Different
wing angles was tested on a Saab Safir. This was done in half scale with
35°. During this time STAL in Finspång was working to design a jet
engine. It was called Dovern after a lake in the Finspång area. This
engine was tested on a hill just near the city and also mounted on a
Avro Lancaster which was bought from England. This bomber crashed
near Slaka church outside Linköping and 2 of 4 pilots died. They worked with the testings 24 hours and the people living in town had certain difficulties
to sleep. Although they accepted these problems for the good sake. There
were lots of demo testing to show how good the durability of the engine
was. The test people threw ice cubes into the air intake of the engine.
This could be done because the rotor blades were made of a special
stainless steel. Further development showed that they could not reach a
satisfactory power output and for reaching this cost should go to high.
It was decided to buy a licence for Rolls Royce Avon instead. The Lance
was equipped with 4 20 mm canons. Big trouble was encountered because
the intakes suck gun powder gases which made the rotor blades dirty.
Although the patrons could be a bad factor. These canons were sparely or
not at all used during training. Compare problems with Hawker
Hunter. Patron exit was done through holes for each canon. Trial was
done for air control with plates outside the front wheel. See picture.
Gun powder gases was led further back to exit holes. I have not
succeeded to get the ultimate l:st solution.
Picture
from F15 Söderhamn (Ref 1). But principle the time was gone for guns.
The fighters were equipped with all different types of rockets. Canons
could be placed under the wings. In the middle under the place a bulb
was added. This was an extra petrol tank. It had to be covered with
neoprene to be protected for the patrons. As all military aircrafts A32
Lance was continuously developed with different versions as night
attack, fighter with different types of armaments.
This type was not sold to other countries but 3 aircrafts came to America
in different ways. 1 aircraft was given to France and one to Spain. In
Sweden there is one flying recently renovated and one at the museums in Linköping and Söderhamn. Read my links.
Between the years 1955-58 297 Lance were delivered and they replaced
B18. The lance became a long lived aircraft and was very much liked by
the pilots and it flew in service till 1987 lastly used as target tower.
To be a tower is the fate for all military fighters when time has over
rolled them.

Viggen became the most powerful military air aircraft
ever built in Sweden. Such a aircraft Sweden will not ever more develop. I
was once working with organisation of entertainment at a Mantorp Park
drag racing competition. It was in that time when Canon supported a
dragster. The organizer had asked for a show with one Viggen. All the
stand was full with about 20000 spectators, sun was shining and
temperature was about 26°, all soft drinks, ice creams were since long
time sold out. In the urinating places it was flooding. In the pause a
Viggen came in over the race track, may be 75 to 100 m up, with the
lowest speed, swinging a little side to side in about angle of 30°. The
after burner was lit just before the starting grid. A sound one never
has heard. As a true dragster spirit the fighter standing still for a
half second before it with an imposing thunder accelerated straight up.
On the race track grid it became almost like a tornado, smell of
kerosene from exhausts, and under the stands nearby all empty cans were
flown away. The girls put their hand before faces and the boys with a
little to much beer in stomach, screaming of joy. It was just the like
of an occasionally opportunity that only happens once in life.
Viggen had to replace the Lance and FFV put already 1961 in orders for a
Fighter, attack and searching abilities. This air aircraft should carry a
Pratt & Whitney engine which should be further developed at Swedish Air
Engines. In the end it gave 7415 ps pulling power and 13125 with after
burner. Different sources gives different figures. Compare with the
Lance, 4880 and 6500. Viggen was first flown February 1974 by Erik
Dahlström. With the new engine Pelle Pellebergs took the aircraft in the
air 1974. It had such facilities that it could move backwards. JA-37 was
on serial production September 1971. Trail was made to sell it to
Denmark, Norway, Belgium and India. All these were Nato countries except
India. The Nato countries choose the American F16. For India export
allowance was not given due to the engine. From 1997 the aircraft got
updated mainly for the computer. This was due to a delivery delay of J39 Gripen. Totally 149
aircrafts were ordered. Although the chaos that was
broken out when Swedish plans for reducing defence costs were settled,
there is no figure how many air aircrafts which were placed at the wings.
1990 the producing time was over.

At the Götaverkens aircraft section Sweden had a man
named Bo Lundberg. He was stationed in America in order to deal with all
contacts about export agreements of buying American fighter aircrafts.
Sweden had ordered 264 of the type Northrop Jeversky and Voultee
Vanguard 48C. By these only 60 were delivered. Jeversky was designed by
a Russian who had fled to America. When USA went into the war against
the Japanese, this license was cancelled by the American president
Roseevelt autumn 1940. Sweden had long understood that this should
happen. Lundberg had the order to put drawings for a Swedish fighter. He
presented his concept when arriving home 1940. This aircraft got the
designation J22. Note that number 21 already was reserved for J21 when
SAAB had the commission to bring fighter J21. J22 was not allowed to be
build in aluminium. All this material should go to building the SAAB B17
and B18. A note about Al. In Sweden every household had to spare all
aluminium foil in order to bring it for the defence. Old people may
remember. Another note is that why Sweden built bombers when they really
needed fighters to prevent an aggressor from destroying Swedish
factories. Lundberg choose to design the body and wings by a steel pipe
framework. They were covered by birch veneer and was integrated with the
framework. This made that it got a very strong and light design. The
engine, same as in B17 and Seversky J9, a 2 row star engine which gave
1065 hp. This gave the aircraft a better kg/hp than other fighters in
Europe, although those normally had 1400 hp at that time. Of course
Lundberg had copied several things from the J9and its engine. This
engine, Nohab in Sweden was working to copy without any license. They
didn't became ready with production with this until 1944. Where to find
engines till that time. Germany had in France taken a large number of
engines of the type TWC3 as war booty. The same as for Jeversky fighter.
The first 113 aircrafts were equipped with this engine. Sweden bought
these engines by paying with iron and special steel. No one could deal
with Germany when their Reich marks were totally worthless on the global
market. Speaking the truth, Sweden had no money either. For all iron
Sweden sold, Germany had to pay in gold. That's why Sweden had an
infected discussion about Jewish gold long after the war. J22 was built
of 17000 details. These were manufactured with the help of 12000
subcontractors from all of Sweden. Among these were Hägglund and Nordic
Wood in Nyköping. In Eskilstuna several machine workshops were
established and became later delivery companies to the Swedish air
industry. In order make this function they had to learn new accuracy and
technique. This became the new start of the Swedish workshop technical
evolution. All detail were gathered in the hangar of former ABA in
Stockholm where they were put together. The last series was done in the
locals of CVA in Arboga. First flight was 1942 and serial production
started 1943. Till 1946 198 aircrafts were built in 2 version and a few
were rebuilt to reconnaissance aircraft scout. J22 was taken out of
defence organisation 1952 and 3 aircrafts were kept for museums.Note. One personel memory. When I (author of this website)
started my carrier as an engineer at the construction office of
Gustavsbergs Factory, I hade Wilhelm Karlsson ac my leader. He told me
about his time with J22. His work was to construct the landing equipment
for the plane. I found this very interesting. Today a nice memory.

It is in the turbulent time when the order from Sweden
of Northrop Seversky only had delivered 60 of the 264 aircrafts and USA
joined the war and called back all engineers which were on lend to
Sweden and annulated the rest of the air crafts. In Italy Reggiane had
just finished a good project which was called Re 2000 Falco 1. They had
shown this aircrafts ability to compete that times well known fighters.
Regianne was sure that the Italian air defence should order lots of
them. Production was already started when the message came that the
aircraft was rejected, but it was free to export. Sweden put at once an
order for 60 aircrafts and all were delivered. Falco 1 was an all metal
aircraft equipped with two machine guns 12,7 mm, a 14 cyl 2 row star engine
at 1020 hk from Piaggio and retractable landing wheels. This air craft
was an unsupported copy of Seversky. It had good performances but as all
Italian deliveries many weaknesses. Among them the engine which was not
to trust. It was two Italian designers who were working at the Caproni
owned factory north west of Milano. They developed, copied Seversky, the
aircraft with the support of owner count Caproni. England ordered 300 and
Hungary 70. The English order were cancelled when Italy went into war
with France. All Falcos were stationed at Bulltofta F10 Malmö. Their
mission was to show the way for all injured aircraft from Germany, where
they could land. From the beginning it was the 60 Seversky air craft
that came to Sweden that had this job but Swedish government thought it
was bad diplomacy to have American built aircrafts meeting the
Americans bombers. Totally 158 aircrafts were produced in different series. Falco 1 made service during the time 1941 to 1945. It was a established
fact that only 37 aircrafts was left air worthy and also badly worn out.
All the aircrafts were out of service and scraped but one.

Caproni was a very large company in Italy. They had
earned much money during WWI through building aircrafts. They had the
best heavy bombers. Owner was the count Gianni Caproni who new to
incorporate important industries. He bought Isotta Fraschini during the
30th and in this way he got his own engine supplier for Caproni 313
which was ordered by Sweden in 84 aircrafts and 31 delivered. This plan was
aimed as a transport aircraft between the Italian colonies but was rebuild
to a bomber. It was mainly manufactured in wood except front cockpit
which was in al. The name of this aircraft in Sweden was B16/S16. It was
equipped with 2 750 hp Isotta Fraschini V12 engines. (A 3 row 18 cyl
Isotta torpedo engine can be seen at Car museum in Köping.) 4 pilots
were needed for flying and as a cause of all the accident it was called
the flying coffin. It was shown that the producer had not been so
careful when choosing material, why the accidents were depending on
that. For ex. tree load bearing parts had knots. All aircrafts were sent to Såtenäs where furniture builders from Tibro were hired to fix all these.
It was under strict secrecy. Eventually the Capronis had counted that at
pilot in active duty only had 5 min. to live. This was the fact during
blitzen. As soon as B17 was started to be delivered Ca 313 were rebuild
for reconnaissance aircraft.
Caproni was a company which build very advanced air aircrafts during the
40th and was the first factory that had jet aircrafts flying. After the war
many of the Caproni companies survived. One was building motorbikes. One
bike was a copy of a Zündapp. 1983 MV Augusta bought Caproni and the
name disappeared. See my links.
Caproni bombers in Sweden did end up as targets for rocket training at
northern Visingsö. Here as late as during the 80th one could find parts
from the destroyed aircrafts. J21A trained with it's rocket ramp against
Capronis. May be you still can find some as the place is now free to
visit.

During the 30th the Swedish government didn't seem to
have the slightest thinking that it ever more should be a conflict in
Europe. For this reason they had disarmed just for using the money for
other things. This meant that the Swedish Air Force was tremendously out
of air aircrafts and material. The Air force hade only some old Fiat Cr 32
and other biplane aircrafts from WWI. Also there were only one wing flight in
Stockholm area. 1938 they started to understand that this was not the
right way and began to investigate were to buy fighters. They had orders
in USA but they didn't want to deliver because of embargo. Japan and
Russia could deliver. Although Russia offered old Polikarpov fighters
and Japan the successful Zero aircraft. The air force leaders didn't want
the Polikarpovs and the transport of Zeros were to long and could easily
be destroyed. The country that at last got the first order was Italy
with the Fiat Cr42. This was the best that for the moment could be
bought. It had a proportionately modern star engine with 14 cyl. and 840
ps. Quite high speed for a biplane. It was old fashioned with an open
cockpit and a weak armament with 2 12.7 machine guns. It had a generally
low material standard and this caused many crashes with the lose of the
pilot and also already 1939-40 they were hopeless antiquated. The first
order with 12 aircrafts was initiated from the pulpit in Christine Church
in Gothenburg. The vicar Isaac Been who had big feelings for Finland,
thundered that "What Finland needs against the Russians are fighters."
Quickly a collection was started and the Swedes gave in a short time
enough with money to buy 12 Cr42. These were to be delivered 1940. As a
private person Isaac Been could not buy them so the Swedish Air Force
got that job. During the time Finland had got peace and had better use
of the money so Sweden bought them an gave Finland the money. Later
Sweden bought another 60 Cr42. Many things can be said about Italian
industry but they always delivered in time. These aircrafts were quickly
worne out because of the bad material standard and already 1943 they
were to be replaced by the Swedish J22. Some of the surviving Cr42 were
placed at F13 Norrköping, and some air worthy were sold within the
country. Only 2 aircrafts are still left in the world and the one at museum
in Linköping is one.

This trainer was named to North American AT in
America. It was also produced in two plants Inglewood and in Canada. It
was a training aircraft with advanced facilities. That's why it had the
add on AT (advanced trainer). It was produced in large numbers from 1935
till 1945. Every country that used it had their own name and in Sweden
it got the name Sk-16A/B. This type had compared to other training
aircrafts closed cockpit, main wheel were able to be retracted, adjustable
prop and a powerful engine giving 600 hp. This was the famous PW Wasp
engine which was almost the same as for DC-3, Junkers B3 and with
doubled cylinders for the Swedes Italian fighters and B17. The training
aircrafts which Sweden had were the German Sk-25 Bestmann and some older
German aircrafts like Klemm 35, Sk-12 Stieglitz and the English Sk-11 Tiger
Moth. All were license built in Sweden. None of these trainers could
live up to what was needed for the modern fighters which were bought and
built in Sweden after the war. 1947 it was decided to buy the well
approved AT16. This type was built in the same factory that was
responsible for P51 Mustang J26. With some imagination you can see that
the J26 and Sk-16 have some similarities. Compare the tail wheel
mounting and the connection of the body to the end. Most of the total
17000 were placed in storage after the war and could be purchased for a
small amount of money. Sweden ordered 175 aircrafts. They were flown to New
Jersey where they were dismantled and pack in large boxes In
Sweden CVA in Arboga put them together again. All of the Swedish
wings got some but most went to the Swedish training center in F5
Ljungbyhed. Buying these aircrafts were a late initiative because jet power
was knocking on the door. Also one can wonder if not the air force
commanders had more thoughts to use this aircraft because the total of 287
aircrafts. Sweden had not such a large fly education.
Sk-16 was out of active duty in two steps. First 1957-58 and lastly
1972.

Hans Klemm was one of the great air aircraft designers in
Germany during the interwar period. He was born already 1885 and started
his career at the Zeppelinwerke. After this he worked with several well
known designers like Heinkel. This led to that he opened his own
factory. With the help of his chief designer Friedrich Fecher they built
what later was known as Klemm 35. This sport aircraft become at once very
popular at a show in Milano 1935. It was an excellent aircraft for
aerobatics. During this period it was very popular to compete with
aircrafts. Already 1936 a Swede, Simonsson, bought one and won a
competition in Sweden. But selling to private persons was not the way to
earn much money. That's way Hans wanted to sell to Luftwaffe. It could
be used for training. But Göring didn't like the small aircraft and called
it "papier fleugzug". It was built with a steel pipe central frame with
wings and rear end of wood covered with fabric. Only small amount of
aluminium was used. It was equipped with a Hirth 4 cyl engine at 105 ps.
Hirth's name is still alive as a producer of 2 stroke engines in
Germany. The selling to RLM was established because of contact with one of the
flying ace from WWI, now general Udet. RLM bought 1300 Klemm 35. Totally
2000 were produced. Sweden needed traning aircrafts and ordered 74 year
1939. These were delivered 1940-41. They were very easy to fly and the
new pilots liked them very much. Klemm 35 was used till 1948 when it was
replaced by Sk 15. After this the air force Klemms were sold to different
flying clubs in Sweden and abroad. This is the reason why there still
are so many surviving copies. All existing aircrafts in Germany were
destroyed or captured during the war. A good link is the Vintage
Aircraft Meeting in Hahneweide 2007. In that site there are much to see
if you have the strength to click. One copy is to be found in Linköping
museum.

Saab had designed one sport and business aircraft
aimed for companies.1945. Swedish Air force bought this type 1947 and
they were used for internal transports. It was equipped with a 120 hp
engine and retractable landing gears. Air Force name was Tp 91. At this
time Klemm 35 was an old type aircraft and needed to be replaced just as
the training aircraft Bücker Bestman. 1949 the Saab Safir was equipped with
a more powerful engine, 190 hp This aircraft was flown down to Ljungbyhed
Skåne for comparing test to Beechcraft Mentor. About the reason for
engine switch and when is there different opinions. After some
adjustments the Air board ordered 80 copies. Saab hadn't time to
manufacture the Safirs themselves according to they were busy with J29.
This order were transferred to the Fokker subsidiary De Schelde. The
order was written with this company. The contract said 75 copies. Sk50
was delivered between 1952 and 1954. Later a 14 four seater was made, SK
51C. The designer Johan Anders Johansson who earlier had worked at
Bücker and specially with the Bestman had the confidence to design the
aircraft. Of this reason Saab Safir was only a updated copy of the
Bestmann. Wonder if not Anders also have taken impulses from
Messerschmidt Bf 108. Sk 50 was produced in 323 copies and exported to several
countries specially Austria, Finland and Norway, totally 21 countries.
De Schelde produced 120 copies. The four seater, Sk 50C was built in
Linköping. Sk 50C was delivered without engine when spare engine were
used from storage. Two Safirs were used for testing wing configuration
for J29 and A32.
1972 the time was out for this popular trainer and it was replaced by
Sk61 Bulldog. The left over aircrafts were moved to the wings for continued
education. 1992 most Sk50 were sold for a symbolic sum to flying clubs
in Sweden. The last one was taken out of service 1993.

Carl Clemens Bücker was one of the many talent
designers who were notable during the inter war period. He was educated
to navy lieutenant and pilot in German Fleet during WWI. After the war
he worked at Heinkel/Caspar-Werke in Warnemünde. During this period he
came to Sweden an was employed as consulting engineer by Swedish Navy
department. He took care of testing and delivery of aircrafts. Sweden
wanted to buy from Heinkel, Caspar and Albatross. In order to take
care of problems with the Versailles treatment, which didn't gave
Germany the right to sell military equipments even produce, Bücker and
in the beginning Heinkel, started a company in Sweden, Svenska Aero AB
1921. This was placed at Hästholmen Lidingö outside Stockholm in a
shipyard. This company delivered more than 15 different types of
aircrafts to the Swedish Navy and Army. Though the Swedish authorities
normally only wanted one aircraft and the license to build, he didn't earn
much money. This was because the marine and army had their own workshops.
Bücker was forced to sell his company to the new established ASJA for
250000 Skr. Much can be written about this affair. Bücker returned to
Germany and opened his own factory outside Berlin. After a while he got
one of his earlier designers to Germany. This was Anders Johan Andersson
who before this time was employed at Svenska Aero and also had worked at
Messerschmidt. Together with Clemens Bücker and Anders they designed
several popular training aircrafts like Bü131 Jungman and Bü181 Bestmann.
Sweden was in urgent need of trainers for the pilots and Bücker 181 had
a good reputation because it was the standard trainer in German
Luftwaffe. The 181 had new thinking in design when the pupil and teacher
sat side by side in a closed cockpit. For this reason they could
communicate much better. In training aircrafts, like Klemm, the pilots
talked through a pipe. One Bestman was ordered from the German
Luftwaffe. This flow to Bromma and then direct to Ljungbyhed F5. Sweden
wanted to buy this type but as usual only one and the right to build
copies. This work should be transferred to Saab in Trollhättan, but
Bücker didn't want to give it to Saab because he had been badly treated
and forced to sell Svenska Aero to ASJA. Today united with Saab.
Different solutions were discussed, even an own company, but at last
Hägglund & Söner in Örnsköldsvik got the order. 120 aircrafts were ordered
and they had their test fly on a small field outside the factory. This
was done by Anders Gernandt, know all over Sweden for his special voice
in radio and interests of horses. These aircrafts were then flown direct to
Ljungbyhed. The whole delivery was ready 1946. After the war the
training in Sweden was reduced and some Bestmann were moved to the
wings. 1952 they were replaced by Sk 50 and the Air Force started to
sell left over Bückers on the civil market and several were sold to
Germany. Four copies stayed in Sweden. Bückers factory outside Berlin
Rangsdorf growed during the war and had as most as 1600 workers. 1/3
were Russian prisoners and forced labours. After the war this factory,
which had escaped from bombings, was classified as war indemnity and
dismounted by the Russians. At this moment most of the workers and
Bücker himself had fled to Hamburg. Carl Clemens Bücker died 1976.
Anders Johan Andersson moved to Sweden 1939 and became a designer at
Saab. He got later the job to design the Saab Safir which then became an
updated copy of Bestman and even more popular then the original.

1936, this was the year when the Swedish Parliament
decided to make a large increase of the Swedish air force. Up to this
day the air force had only 80 air worthy air crafts, all more or less
antiquated. This increase was supposed to expand the air force up to 450
aircrafts and of these 300 should be in the first line. This was an
impossible wish because Sweden didn't want to buy ready made air crafts.
It should be licenses to build the air crafts in Sweden. For this Sweden
had to build up there own air craft industry first. At this time Sweden
had no producer of thin aluminium plates. There were some producers like ASJA, SAAB AFF (AB
Förenade Flygverkstäder). The air force had also some support workshops
of their own. These were only meant for this but they became important
to build licence build air crafts. They were named CFM (Centala
Flygverkstaden Malmslätt), CFV (Centrala Flygverkstaden Västerås). There
was also
Bofors/Nohab Flygmotor. For this expansion pilots were needed and for
the pilots there must be enough with school trainers. One Focke-Wulf 44J
from Luftwaffe was flown 1935 to Ljungbyhed for demonstration. This air
craft was a development by a well known designer,
Kurt Tank,
who with the help of the famous aerobics of the time like Ernst Udet, Emil Kropf
and Gerd Achegelis had changed the model to a good trainer. This air
craft was used during the WWII in education of German pilots. The air
force board decided to buy 2 airplanes to evaluate. After this 14
aircrafts were ordered. At the same time Sweden got license to build and
ordered 20 planes at ASJA. 37 air crafts were ordered at CFV. This in
spite of that the air force workshops were not meant for this. Later
Focke-Wulf delivered another 12 aeroplanes.
SK-12 (Swedish designation) was build by wood and had a frame of steel
pipes and between covered with fabrics. Certain places where covered by
plywood. The engine was a Siemens Bravo license manufactured by BMW and
gave 145 ps. When this type was taken out of service in the end of the
war most of them were sent to the wings. There they were in active duty
up to 1960. Several of them were sold to Germany and some to the air
clubs of Sweden for a symbolic sum. 2 planes are to be seen at Svedino
Car and Airplane Museum and also one at Air Force Museum in Linköping.

The history about the SK_11 Tiger Moth really started
for the Swedish Air Force with
Sk-8 Skolfalken. The Air board didn't buy enough with copies of this
type because Svenska Aero couldn't produce them. In the year of 1931-32
there was hard feelings between Air Board and Svenska Aero. The Sk-8
could have been license produced at other air craft producers in Sweden.
The Air Force had also the
Sk-6.
This air craft had serious problems with it's Mercedes engine.
This made that the type was grounded. Later it got another type of
engine. Well, the pilot school at Ljungbyhed had problems because no
school trainer was available for 1931 class. No pilots could be trained.
One solution was to buy 10 air crafts of the type Gipsy Moth from
England. This plane got the designation Sk-9. It was a good air craft
for training but .... with the disadvantage that the pilot in the front
seat had big troubles to get out in an emergency situation. This was due
to all stay wires under the upper wing plane placed around the cockpit.
This was the reason way the English air force didn't buy this air craft
before this thing was settled. It was changed in a typical English way
at this time by trial and error. The upper wing plane was move
forward twice. Such type of changes made that the centre of gravity
point came in the wrong place according to the wings. Now it was time to
change the wings into a slight sweep-back. This was done 3 times. At
last the head designer decided to make the sweep-back even more for the
upper wing plane. Now they had got a good result. The last changing was
to raise the lower wing plane because it could touch the ground when
landing. In order to complete all these changes they put a stronger
engine in front. It became an inverted Gipsy III with 120 ps. Now it was
time to put all this on drawings. The engine was later, 1931, changed to
a even stronger one. The air craft was now named DH 82A Tiger Moth or
Sk-11A. This engine Gipsy I had 130 ps. This type was imported to Sweden
and also license built at ASJA factories. In England lots of pilots were
needed because of the world situation. This forced a massive serial
production and totally till end of war 8280 copies were built. This was
done mainly at Morris Motors fabrics. Several countries, mainly in
Europe, used it for first training of pilots. This meant that 1000:s of
pilots have their roots in this type of trainer and because of that a
special feeling for it. Many air clubs take a special care of this
historical air craft. This means that there are many air worthy Tiger
Moths in the world. In Sweden who had license to build Sk-11 and Sk-11A
built 23 copies and totally 13 aeroplanes were bought from DeHavilland
in England. At the end of 30th they were replaced by Focke-Wulf 44J
SK-12. The last Sk-11 was taken out of service as late as 1958.
In Sweden there are several air worthy aeroplanes at different air
clubs. Also there are one of Sk-11A and one
Sk-9
at air museum in Linköping.

The history of Tigerschwalbe is one part of Gerhard Fieselers
life as an aircraft designer. He was a son of a printer and it was
expected that he should be such a one. Although Gerhard didn't have the
feeling for this. He enrolled into the German Luftwaffe during the WWI.
When the war was at the end he started as a printer but came in contact
with Raab-Katzenstein aircraft factory. The owner needed a flight
instructor. He was employed and during this time he learned all about
how to construct an aeroplane. He was very talent in aerobatic and
earned much money when performing in the air. For this with his
experiences he designed and built his type of aircraft at Raab factory.
This was the Fi-2 which was a forerunner for RK-26. Four RK-26 were
built before Raab-Katzenstein was bankrupt and the owner had to fly
according his antinazi opinions. He tried to start aeroplane
manufacturing in Estonia and Latvia. Gerhard with his money bought a
sailplane factory in Ihringshausen, by the owner Ackermann, near Kassel. This was renamed to Gerhard Fieseler Flugzeugbau.
Here he started to design aircrafts. Gerard was invited through the
Swedish Embassy in Berlin to show the RK-26 1930. He flow one of the
remaining RK-26 to Ljungbyhed for a show. As he was a very good stunt
pilot he had no difficulties to convince the spectators, with Lieutenant
Nils Söderberg as high commander of the flight school, that this was the
aeroplane for Sweden. One test copy was bought at once for further
testings and 1932 ASJA got an order of 25 copies. ASJA had bought
license rights to build this aeroplane. RK-26 had though only one
cockpit so the Swedish board ordered some changes and the most important
was building in another cockpit, strengthening it and a stronger engine,
Walter Castor 240 hp. The stronger engine was needed when all changes
had added another 200 kg. This showed that it was not the same aircraft
and had no longer possessed those good qualities it had from the
beginning. From the 25 copies that was delivered up to 1934 18 were
crashed. It was established that this type separated the
wheat from the chaff. This type was
in use up to 1945. The copy at Museum in Linköping is the rebuild
original test copy from Germany and also the only one left in the world.
An interesting note about Gerhard Fieseler is that he was the
constructor of the V1-bomb, named
Fi-103, and other proposals of that
type. See alsoS14 Storch.